My Secret History is a novel by Paul Theroux published in June 1989 by Putnam Adult in the US and Hamish Hamilton in the UK.

The first chapter is set in the Boston suburb of Medford[2] (Theroux's birthplace) where 15-year-old Andy acts as altar boy at the local Catholic church.

He frequently totes his .22 Mossberg rifle to church on his way to the Sandpits - an improvised shooting range complete with glass bottles - for the purpose of impressing his neighbor Tina Spector.

Andy finished Moby Dick at some point during the past year and is fixated with finding a whale steak to eat.

During a weekend trip to New York City with Mamalujian to see Broadway shows, Andy spends most of his time searching for an abortion doctor for Lucy.

During the day, he searches bars and visits a doctor whose name Mamalujian mentions when he tells her that he's asking about abortion services for a friend.

Andy immediately leaves the bar and borrows money from Larry and Mattanza and donates blood nearby to reimburse Mamalujian within a half-hour.

Andy, now with the Peace Corps, is the headmaster of the school and must decide how to punish a student who is caught smoking marijuana out near the gum trees.

He exchanged his remaining amount of pounds for bags of tickeys, which he flung along the route of the road to the desired width.

Andy avoids the Peace Corps doctor and is instead prescribed free antibiotics from Mr. Nunka - a medical assistant - from the local hospital in Zimba.

The infection leaves in a week and in return, Andy volunteers at the hospital for a few weekends to bathe several sick old men in the ward.

Andy recognizes a bar girl, Gloria, who receives antibiotics at the hospital and begins exclusively seeing her for a period.

Nearing the inauguration of Malawi, Deputy Mambo, who now sports a Youth League badge with an image of Hastings Kamuzu Banda, brings two Israeli soldiers to the school to drill the children for opening ceremonies.

Andy goes to the bar on inauguration day and the African girl he takes home asks him to pay for sex.

Naipaul in description) for a Christmas vacation away from his job as acting director at the Adult Studies Institute in Kampala, Uganda.

While at Prasad's house, Andy receives a letter written in Italian from a female friend in Accra and decides to stop by before returning to Uganda.

During his week-long recovery from gonorrhea, Andy visits Lagos in Nigeria to see a woman, Femi, that he knew from Uganda.

His apartment is a mess from his parrot's droppings and roaches - a result of his cook's habit of leaving food in kitchen drawers.

Andy makes an impromptu visit to see Jennifer in Kenya at her school near Nairobi and eventually proposes marriage.

Andy takes the Trans-Siberian railroad straight through to Moscow and then makes his way back home to Catford.

Andy describes a primal jealousy and a more abstract anger - deriving from the danger experienced during his tour across Eurasia and his reassurance of returning to a family - that drives his mission to discover Jennifer's lover.

Andy tricks the maid to enter the bank colleague's house and interrupts a dinner party with Slee in attendance.

Eden is an insecure thirty-something former dancer turned magazine editor that specializes in antiques and decoration and who enjoys preparing gourmet cooking.

Andy notes that a trait common with antique lovers and gourmets is that they are usually anglophiles who are class-conscious, and that no matter where they are from in the United States they always include themselves in the English upper-middle class.

Eden and Andy arrive in Delhi and begin touring the Red Fort, the Moti Mahal, the Throne Room, and the Marble Pavilion.

A few days later in the hotel, Eden is wearing a human bone necklace of Tibetan origin that a local vendor gave to her.

In the hotel and on the returning plane flight Eden reveals that she always cries in the shower and that she has rape fantasies, which she supposes is normal.

Unmesh translates a passage on a monument attributed to Issa that describes earth as a bridge on which no house shall be built.

The ride on the Madras Express is hot and humid and Jennifer notes that a person could dislocate their back trying to make love in one of the berths.

Later, in the fourth chapter while in England, Andy describes the numerous lofty names and titles for places in London, all of which are disappointing to visit.